There are many needs for communicating with an occupant of a vehicle, car, bus, truck, etc. Examples of such are to initiate a transaction at a drive through, answering questions at a roadblock or checkpoint, during a traffic stop, etc. Currently, to perform such communications requires an occupant of the vehicle open a window or door and communicate through that open window or door.
An example of such communication occurs when one places an order at an order taking position of a fast food restaurant. In such, the occupant must roll down their window (or open their door) and verbally communicate with a speaker and microphone located at the order taking position. By opening the window, the occupant is exposed, not only to the weather, but to a potential of theft, bodily injury or carjacking. Meanwhile, the person taking the order is safe, dry and warm inside the fast food restaurant. To further compound the difficulty in communication, often the speaker is of inadequate quality to clearly hear the order taker and the background noise coupled with microphone quality and position makes it difficult for the order taker to hear and understand the occupant of the vehicle.
In certain climates, weather makes it uncomfortable and inconvenient for the occupant to open their window. In some location, cold weather includes temperatures well below zero, wind, rain, hail, snow, blowing snow, blowing sand and dust, etc. It is often uncomfortable to open a window in such climates, especially when young children are also situated in the vehicle. Many potential customers of establishments with drive-thru facilities are dissuaded from frequenting such establishments during bad weather.
In certain neighborhoods, it is dangerous to open a vehicle window for fear that a suspect will reach in the vehicle, cause bodily injury, grab something of value, coerce the occupant into getting out, etc. Many potential customers of establishments with drive-thru facilities are dissuaded from frequenting such establishments due to fear of lost valuables and/or bodily harm.
In certain law-enforcement situations it becomes necessary for a law officer, border guard, sentry, etc, to communicate with a vehicle occupant. For example, when a law officer makes a traffic stop, the officer must communicate with the driver to inform them of what they did wrong (speeding), get their name, license number, insurance company, etc. Similarly, at a checkpoint such as at a roadblock, border, etc, it is sometimes needed to ask questions of the vehicle occupants. The same or similar environmental and safety issues are present in these situations. For example, when a law officer makes a traffic stop, it might be raining, snowing, etc. Often, the officer must get out of their vehicle to retrieve the driver's information, return to their vehicle to access their computer system and issue the summons, then exit their vehicle to present the summons to the driver. This exposes the officer to the elements and increases the risk of the officer being hit by a passing vehicle, especially in bad weather. Furthermore, the initial confrontation with the driver is a dangerous situation for the officer. If the individual is wanted for something serious, has a gun or is otherwise dangerous, the initial confrontation often becomes a life threatening situation for the officer.
There are existing ways to perform such communications, none of which are practical. For example, a cellular phone can be used to call the fast food establishment to place an order just before approaching the pick-up window. This is not practical for several reasons: not everybody has a cell phone, cell phone minutes cost money that most don't want to waste and use of a long-range device such as a cell phone does not establish a working queue for the pick-up window, therefore a first person might arrive at the window and their order is not ready while the order is ready and getting cold for the fifth person in queue.
Another way to perform such communications is with a short-range wireless communication device such as a walkie-talkie. This solution would work if everybody had such a device and there were sufficient channels such that one wouldn't be placing an order at one fast food establishment and the order be taken at a different establishment.
There are known one-way methods of communicating with a vehicle occupant. For years, it has been known to locally transmit audio to occupants of vehicles through the ubiquitous AM/FM radio present in almost every vehicle. This has been done to warn drivers of weather and traffic issues, to guide drivers into theme parks, to describe attractions as the occupants drive through (e.g., animal parks), etc. This has long been used as an inward way to communicate in one direction and has no way for the vehicle occupant(s) to communicate outwardly.
Another one-way method of communications that has been around for many years utilizes light energy reflected off of a window such that, when an occupant behind the window makes noise, the noise causes the window glass to vibrate, thereby modulating the reflected light energy. The reflected light energy is received by a sensor and the sound is demodulated or extracted out of the reflected light. The light is often from a laser to provide an accurate, directional beam. This has been used, predominately in ease dropping, probably originating with Leon Theremin in the Soviet Union approximately 1947 using a low-power infra red beam instead of a laser. For example, a spy would sit in a hotel across from an embassy with such a device and listen in on what was being said behind closed doors within the embassy. Nowadays, laser listening devices similar to these are available to the amateur spy from many suppliers on the Internet.
What is needed is a system that will enable two-way communication without requiring opening of the vehicle.